There are also good deals from mail order suppliers with ads in bicycle magazines or on the Internet. Since the CPSC standard became law in 1999, any helmets you buy from a US retailer will have the sticker inside certifying to it.

If you are seeking bids for a large order, or do not have local sources of cheap helmets, there are many choices:

Safe Kids USA has arranged with one of their sponsors, Bell Sports, to provide helmets made by Bell to their local chapters at prices around $7.50 each, the price through December, 2004. Bell also provides multisport and snow sport helmets at a discount, and makes the program available through Safe Kids to other non-profits. Unfortunately, the cheaper Bell models do not fit very well, with a tendency to "strap creep." You can contact your local Safe Kids chapter or their national headquarters at 202-662-0600. You can also call Kathy Hoffmann at Bell Sports at 800-494-4543 ext 260, or send her a fax to 217-892-2662, or email her at khoffmann@bellsports.com The postal mailing address is

Bell Sports, Inc.
1924 County Road, 3000 N
Rantoul, IL 61866

She will provide interested organizations with current ordering information and a SafeKids contact in their area. She can also tell you about a direct program for police and EMS bike officers including helmets and other stuff. Riders and parents may appreciate the Bell name recognition factor for a low-priced helmet, although the fit in cheaper Bells leaves a lot to be desired. If you live in Texas, the same helmets and prices are available through the Texas Bicycle Coalition. Contact them at BikeMail@biketexas.org or see their order form on line.

Helmets R Us has a line of T-Star helmets, made in China by Zuhai Safety, including skate helmets, mostly certified by Snell to its tough B-95 standard, starting at $5.00. They also sell retail to individuals at about $10 per helmet, and have a unique "Face Saver" model with a chinbar. They have sizing info for retail sales and a How to Fit video for programs. Contact Vern Padgett, Helmets R Us, 2705 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98402. tel. 253-627-2121, fax 253-572-4225, e-mail: info@helmetsrus.net.

The American Children's Safety Network, primarily a non-profit provider of low-cost helmets, has informed us in March of 2005 that they have limited abilities to provide free helmets to local programs. They were contacting us looking for organizational funding at the time, so we would assume that their capabilities really are limited, but they are worth a try. They sell low cost helmets as well.

Troxel provides helmets to government agencies, safety programs and non-profits for $6.75 and up. Contact Graham Rawak at grawak@troxelhelmets.com or call 800-288-4280 (Outside the US, 858-527-4800) The postal address is Safetech Division, Troxel Cycling and Fitness, 1333 30th Street, San Diego, California 92154.

HeadStart Technologies has a line of Canadian-made EPP helmets selling for $7 to non-profits. EPP is a multi-impact foam, so you don't have to trash the helmet after every impact. They say the models for the U.S. are all ASTM certified. They also have toddler helmets made for either U.S. or Canadian (CSA standard) specs. The Canadian standard differs considerably from the US standard for toddler helmets, and is probably better. Contact Headstart Technologies, 558 Massey Road, Unit 6, Guelph, ONT N1K-1B4, Canada. tel. 800-423-3409 or 519-836-6646.

ProRider (Children-N-Safety) has a multipurpose helmet for skateboard, skating and bicycling certified to Snell N-94. They also have several bicycling-only models certified to Snell B-95, and BMX helmets as well. Contact ProRider, 18370 Olympic Avenue South, Tukwila, WA 98188, tel. 800-642-3123, fax 425-251-5985, email info@prorider.com.

American Safety ASHP has the same Chinese-made helmets as Helmets R Us, for prices ranging from under $6 to $35 for BMX models, plus freight of 50 cents to a dollar per helmet. Some models are Snell B-95 certified.

J & B Importers has a line of Chinese-manufactured helmets at about $7 to $15. They are certified to the CPSC standard. Contact Lisa Humphries, Sales Manager, by email at lcahn@jbimporters.com or by voice phone at 800-666-0400 x255. J & B is a wholesaler to the bicycle industry of all kinds of bicycle parts and accessories. They established this program to deal with non-profits.

Prevention Alternatives Inc has helmets from Vigor Sports at $6 for 12-vent helmets with black foam and $8.50 for skate-style models, plus shipping if ordering less than 100 units. Discounts available on large orders. Prevention Alternatives, Inc, PO Box 16, Haslett MI 48840, 517-927-7731.

Seven Star Sports is a Canadian company with ten bicycle helmet models in its program for non-profits. They list all of them as CPSC-certified. The ones labeled as "multi-sport" are not certified to the standards for other sports, so we would regard them as bicycle helmets. Contact Khalid Mirza, Sales Representative, by email to khalid@sevenstarsports.com or by voice phone at 905-574-9270 or fax at 905-574-7082.

Note: We do not accept support from these companies or any other manufacturer. We have had no business relationship with any of them, so we can not actually recommend any of them. We would recommend normal business caution in dealing with any commercial enterprise, including helmet suppliers!

In addition to the above, most major US helmet manufacturers have on occasion donated helmets for a campaign of some kind. Usually the request has to hit just right, when they have some leftover (but good) helmets of a particular model, or it fits somehow with their current marketing strategy. They don't announce those donations because their full-price dealers would be upset and they would be inundated with requests. We don't have any more info than that, but you can check out our Links page for the Web sites of the manufacturers.

This page was last revised on: March 31, 2008.

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